The festival is observed by the kindling of the
lights of a special candelabrum, the Menorah
or Hanukiah, one light on each night of the holiday, progressing to
eight on the final night. An extra light called a shamash,
(Hebrew:
"guard" or "servant") is also lit each night, and is given a
distinct location, usually higher or lower than the others. The
purpose of the extra light is to adhere to the prohibition,
specified in the Talmud (Tracate
Shabbat 21b-23a), against using the Hanukkah lights for anything
other than publicizing and meditating on the Hanukkah story.

Hanukkah is mentioned in the deuterocanonical
or apocrypha
books of 1 Maccabees
and 2
Maccabees. 1 Maccabees states: "For eight days they celebrated
the rededication of the
altar. Then Judah and
his brothers and the entire congregation of Israel decreed that the
days of the rededication...should be observed...every year...for
eight days. (1 Mac.4:56-59)" According to 2 Maccabees, "the Jews
celebrated joyfully for eight days as on the feast of
Booths."

Origins of the holiday

"Hanukkah," from the Hebrew word for
"dedication" or "consecration", marks the re-dedication of the
Temple
in Jerusalem after its desecration by the forces of Antiochus IV
and commemorates the "miracle of the container of oil." According
to the Talmud, at the
re-dedication following the victory of the Maccabees over
the Seleucid
Empire, there was only enough consecrated olive oil to
fuel the eternal flame in the Temple for one day. Miraculously, the
oil burned for eight days, which was the length of time it took to
press, prepare and consecrate fresh olive oil.

Hanukkah is also mentioned in the deuterocanonical
books of 1 Maccabees
and 2
Maccabees. 1 Maccabees states: "For eight days they celebrated
the rededication of the
altar. Then Judah and
his brothers and the entire congregation of Israel decreed that the
days of the rededication...should be observed...every year...for
eight days. (1 Mac.4:56-59)" According to 2 Maccabees, "the Jews
celebrated joyfully for eight days as on the feast of
Booths."

The martyrdom of Hannah and her seven sons has
also been linked to Hanukkah. According to the Talmudic story and
2
Maccabees, a Jewish woman named Hannah and her seven sons were
tortured and executed by Antiochus
for refusing to bow down to a statue and eat pork, in violation of
Jewish
law.

Name

The name "Hanukkah" is interpreted in many ways.

Some scholars say the word was derived from the Hebrew verb
"חנך" meaning "to dedicate" or to "educate." On Hanukkah, Jews mark
the rededication of the House of the Lord.

Others argue that the name can be broken down into "חנו", from
the Hebrew word for encampment, and the Hebrew letters כ"ה, which
stand for the 25th day of Kislev, the day on which the holiday
begins: Hence, the Jews sat in their camp, that is, they rested
fighting, on the 25th day of Kislev.

Hanukkah is also the Hebrew acronym for "ח' נרות והלכה כבית
הלל" meaning "eight candles as determined by House of
Hillel" This is a reference to the disagreement between two
rabbinical schools of thought - Hillel and the House of Shammai -
on the proper way to light Hanukkah candles. Shammai said that
eight candles should be lit from the start, and reduced by one
candle every night, whereas Hillel argued in favor of starting with
one candle and lighting an additional one every night. Jewish law
adopted the position of Hillel.

Historical sources

In the Talmud

The miracle of Hanukkah is described in the
Talmud. The
Gemara, in
tractate Shabbat 21b focuses on Shabbat candles and
moves to Hanukkah candles and says that after the occupiers had
been driven from the Temple, the Maccabees discovered that almost
all of the ritual olive oil had been profaned. They found only a
single container that was still sealed by
the High
Priest, with enough oil to keep the menorah in the Temple lit
for a single day. They used this, and miraculously, that oil burned
for eight days (the time it took to have new oil pressed and made
ready).

The Talmud presents three customs:

Lighting one light each night per household,

One light each night for each member of the household, or,

The most beautiful method, where the number of candles changed
each night.

There was a dispute among the sages over how the
last option was to be performed: either display eight lamps on the
first night of the festival, and reduce the number on each
successive night; or begin with one lamp the first night,
increasing the number till the eighth night. The followers of
Shammai
favored the former custom; the followers of Hillel
advocated the latter. As is the case in most such disputes,
Jewish law
followed Hillel. Except in times of danger, the lights were to be
placed outside one's door or in the window closest to the street.
Rashi, in a
note to Shabbat 21b, says their purpose is to publicize the
miracle. Hanukkah is also mentioned in the (older) Mishnah (TB
Megillah 30b).

In the Septuagint and other sources

The story of Hanukkah
is alluded to in the books of 1 Maccabees
and 2
Maccabees of the Septuagint but
Hanukkah is not specially mentioned; rather, a story similar in
character, and obviously older in date, is the one alluded to in 2
Maccabees 1:18 et seq according to which the relighting of the
altar fire by Nehemiah was due
to a miracle which occurred on the twenty-fifth of Kislev, and
which appears to be given as the reason for the selection of the
same date for the rededication of the altar by Judah
Maccabeus.

Another source is the Megillat
Antiochus. This work (also known as "Megillat HaHasmonaim", or
"Megillat Hanukkah") is in both Aramaic
and Hebrew;
the Hebrew version is a literal translation from the Aramaic
original. Recent scholarship dates it to somewhere between the 2nd
and 5th Centuries, probably in the 2nd Century, with the Hebrew
dating to the seventh century. It was published for the first time
in Mantua in
1557. Saadia Gaon,
who translated it into Arabic in
the 9th Century, ascribed it to the Maccabees themselves, disputed
by some, since it gives dates as so many years before the
destruction of the second temple in 70 CE. The Hebrew text with an
English translation can be found in the Siddur of Philip
Birnbaum.

Hanukkah is also mentioned in the New
Testament, where in the Gospel of
John it is referred to as the Feast of the Dedication (Bible
verse |John|10:22|KJV).

The story

see also Hasmonean Around
200 BCE Jews lived as an autonomous people in the Land of
Israel, also referred to as Judea, which at that
time was controlled by the Seleucidking
of Syria. The Jewish people paid taxes to Syria and accepted
its legal authority, and they were free to follow their own faith,
maintain their own jobs, and engage in trade.

By 175 BCE Antiochus
IV Epiphanes ascended to the Seleucid throne. At first little
changed, but under his reign, the Temple in Jerusalem was
looted, Jews were massacred, and Judaism was
effectively outlawed. In 167 BCE Antiochus ordered an altar to
Zeus erected
in the Temple.

Many modern scholars argue that the king may have
been intervening in an internal civil war between the
traditionalist Jews in the country and the Hellenized elite Jews in
Jerusalem. These competed violently over who would be the High Priest,
with traditionalists with Hebrew/Aramaic names like Onias
overthrown by Hellenizers with Greek names like Jason and Menelaus.
As the conflict escalated, Antiochus took the side of the
Hellenizers by prohibiting the religious practices the
traditionalists had rallied around. This may explain why the king,
in a total departure from Seleucid practice in all other places and
times, banned the traditional religion of a whole people.

Antiochus' actions proved to be a major
miscalculation as they provoked a large-scale revolt. Mattathias, a
Jewish
priest, and his five sons Jochanan, Simeon,
Eleazar,
Jonathan,
and Judah led
a rebellion against Antiochus. Judah became known as Yehuda
HaMakabi ("Judah the Hammer"). By 166 BCE Mattathias had died, and
Judah took his place as leader. By 165 BCE the Jewish revolt
against the Seleucid monarchy was successful. The Temple was
liberated and rededicated. The festival of Hanukkah was instituted
by Judah
Maccabee and his brothers to celebrate this event. After
recovering Jerusalem and the Temple, Judah ordered the Temple to be
cleansed, a new altar to be built in place of the polluted one and
new holy vessels to be made. According to the Talmud, olive oil was
needed for the menorah in the Temple, which was required to burn
throughout the night every night. But there was only enough oil to
burn for one day, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days, the
time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An
eight day festival was declared by the Jewish sages to commemorate
this miracle.

The version of the story in 1 Maccabees, on the
other hand, states that an eight day celebration of songs and
sacrifices was proclaimed upon rededication of the altar, and makes
no mention of the miracle of the oil. A number of historians
believe that the reason for the eight day celebration was that the
first Hanukkah was in effect a belated celebration of the festivals
of Sukkot
and Shemini
Atzeret. During the war the Jews were not able to celebrate
Sukkot/Shemini Atzeret properly; the combined festivals also last
eight days, and the Sukkot festivities featured the lighting of
lamps in the Temple (Suk.v. 2-4). The historian Josephus mentions
the eight-day festival and its customs, but does not tell us the
origin of the eight day lighting custom. Given that his audience
was Hellenized Romans, perhaps his silence on the origin of the
eight-day custom is due to its miraculous nature. In any event, he
does report that lights were kindled in the household and the
popular name of the festival was, therefore the "Festival of
Lights" ("And from that time to this we celebrate this festival,
and call it Lights").

It has also been noted that the number eight has
special significance in Jewish theology, as representing
transcendence and the Jewish People's special role in human
history. Seven is the number of days of creation, that is, of
completion of the material cosmos, and also of the classical
planets. Eight, being one step beyond seven, represents the
Infinite. Hence, the Eighth Day of the Assembly festival, mentioned
above, is according to Jewish Law a festival for Jews only (unlike
Sukkot, when all peoples were welcome in Jerusalem). Similarly, the
rite of brit milah
(circumcision), which brings a Jewish male into God's Covenant, is
performed on the eighth day. Hence, Hanukkah's eight days (in
celebration of monotheistic morality's victory over Hellenistic
humanism) have great symbolic importance for practicing Jews.

Hanukkah rituals

The lights can be candles or oil lamps.
The blessings are said before or after the candles are lit
depending on tradition. On the first night of Hanukkah one light
(candle, lamp, or electric) is lit on the right side of the
Menorah, on the following night a second light is placed to the
left of the first candle and so on, proceeding from right to left
each night.

Hanerot Halalu

During or after the lights are kindled the
hymn Hanerot Halalu is recited. There are several differing
versions - the version presented here is recited in many Ashkenazic
communities:

Maoz Tzur

Each night after the lighting of the candles,
while remaining within sight of the candles, Ashkenazim (and, in
recent decades, some Sephardim and Mizrahim in Western countries)
usually sing the hymn Ma'oz Tzur written in Medieval Germany. The song
contains six stanzas. The first and last deal with general themes
of divine salvation, and the middle four deal with events of
persecution in Jewish
history, and praises God for survival despite these tragedies
(the the
exodus from Egypt, the Babylonian
captivity, the miracle of the holiday of Purim, and the
Hasmonean
victory).

Other customs

After lighting the candles and Ma'oz Tzur,
singing various other Hanukkah songs is customary in many Jewish
homes. Various Hasidic and Sefardic traditions have additional
prayers that are recited both before and after lighting the
Hanukkah lights. This includes the recitation of many Psalms, most
notably Psalms 30, 67, and 91 (many Hasidim recite Psalm 91 seven
times after lighting the lamps, as was taught by the Baal Shem
Tov), as well as other prayers and hymns, each congregation
according to its own custom. In North America it is common to
exchange presents or give children presents at this time.

Additions to the daily prayers

An addition is made to the
"hoda'ah" (thanksgiving) benediction in the Amidah, called Al
ha-Nissim ("On/about the Miracles"). This addition refers to the
victory achieved over the Syrians by the Hasmonean Mattathias and
his sons.

The same prayer is added to the grace after
meals. In addition, the Hallel Psalms are
sung during each morning service and the Tachanun
penitential prayers are omitted. The Torah is read every day in the
synagogue, the first
day beginning from Numbers
6:22 (According to some customs, Numbers 7:1), and the last day
ending with Numbers 8:4.

Since Hanukkah lasts eight days it includes at
least one, and sometimes two, Jewish Sabbaths
(Saturdays). The weekly Torah portion for
the first Sabbath is almost always Miketz, telling of
Joseph's
dream and his enslavement in Egypt. The
Haftarah
reading for the first Sabbath Hanukkah is Zechariah
2:14-4:7. When there is a second Sabbath on Hanukkah, the Haftarah
reading is from I Kings 7:40 -
7:50.

The Hanukkah menorah is also kindled daily in the
synagogue, at night with the blessings and in the morning without
the blessings. The menorah is not lit on the Sabbath, but rather
prior to the beginning of the Sabbath at night and not at all
during the day.

Hanukkah music

There are several songs associated with the
festival of Hanukkah. The most well known in English-speaking
countries include "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel" and "Chanukah, Oh
Chanukah." In Israel, Hanukkah has become something of a national
holiday. A large number of songs have been written on Hanukkah
themes, perhaps more so than for any other Jewish holiday. Some of
the most well known are "Hanukkiah Li Yesh" ("I Have a Hanukkah
Menora"), "Kad Katan" ("A Small Jug"), "S'vivon Sov Sov Sov"
("Hanukka Top, Spin and Spin"), "Mi Yimalel" (Who can Retell") and
"Ner Li, Ner Li" ("I have a Candle").

Hanukkah foods

Potato
pancakes, known as latkes in Yiddish,
are traditionally associated with Hanukkah, especially among
Ashkenazi families. There is a custom of eating foods fried or
baked in oil (preferably olive oil), as the original miracle of the
Hanukkah menorah involved the discovery of the small flask of oil
used by the Jewish High Priest, the Kohen Gadol.
This small batch of olive oil was only supposed to last one day,
and instead it lasted eight.

Background

Chronology

168 BCE: Under the reign of Antiochus IV, the Temple is looted,
Jews are massacred, and Judaism is
outlawed.

167 BCE: Antiochus orders an altar to Zeus erected in the
Temple. Mattathias, and his five sons John, Simon, Eleazar,
Jonathan, and Judah lead a rebellion against Antiochus. Judah
becomes known as Judah Maccabe (Judah The Hammer).

166 BCE: Mattathias dies, and Judah takes his place as leader.
The Hasmonean Jewish
Kingdom begins; It lasts until 63 BCE

165 BCE: The Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy
is successful. The Temple is liberated and rededicated (Hanukkah).

142 BCE: Establishment of the Second Jewish Commonwealth. The
Seleucids recognize Jewish autonomy. The Seleucid kings have a
formal overlordship, which the Hasmoneans acknowledged. This
inaugurates a period of great geographical expansion, population
growth, and religious, cultural and social development.

83 BCE: Consolidation of the Kingdom in territory east of the
Jordan
River.

63 BCE: The Hasmonean Jewish Kingdom comes to an end due to
rivalry between the brothers Aristobulus
II and Hyrcanus II,
both of whom appeal to the Roman
Republic to intervene and settle the power struggle on their
behalf. The Roman general Gnaeus
Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) is dispatched to the area.
Twelve thousand Jews are massacred as Romans enter Jerusalem. The
Priests of the Temple are struck down at the Altar. Rome annexes
Judea.

Battles of the Maccabean revolt

There were a number of key
battles between the Maccabees and the Seleucid Syrian-Greeks:

When Hanukkah occurs

The dates of Hanukkah are determined
by the Hebrew
calendar. Hanukkah begins at the 25th day of Kislev and
concluding on the 2nd or 3rd day of Tevet (Kislev can
have 29 or 30 days). The Jewish day begins at sunset, whereas the
Gregorian
calendar begins the day at midnight. So, the first day of
Hanukkah actually begins at sunset of the day immediately before
the date noted on Gregorian calendars.